About The Author

Stefani Fontana, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, grew up in the Kansas City area. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas, where she majored in biology, in 2007. She received her Ph.D. in human and molecular genetics from Johns Hopkins University in 2013. She worked as a summer intern in the summer of 2014 for Heartland Health Monitor, a reporting partnership based at KCUR, and covered stories on the challenge same-sex unions pose to hospitals and on infant mortality in the black community. She was recognized by the Midwestern Association of Plastic Surgeons Conference in 2016 for the Best Medical Student Presentation and received the Service to KU School of Medicine student award in 2015. She is a founding member of TriHawks, KU Med’s triathlon team.